Alaska Native corporations develop opportunity: growing shareholder employment through partnerships.

• Author: West, Gail
• Position: NATIVE BUSINESS

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A question that has puzzled America for years also confronts Alaska--how can people live in the smaller communities when jobs are scarce, money is tight and the cost of living is high? Alaska Native regional corporations are tackling that thorny question of rural sustainability across the state.

Southeast Alaska's regional corporation, Sealaska, has created a subsidiary to focus on helping its villages and its region improve their economic conditions. Haa Aani LLC's President and Chief Executive Officer Russell Dick said Sealaska mandated the Haa Aani's management to help stimulate the region's economy.

To do that, Dick said Sealaska capitalized Haa Aani with $5 million and expected him and his team to leverage those funds and form partnerships to shore up the rural economy. "We wanted to bring in business, philanthropic, state and federal partners," Dick said.

One partnership Haa Aani entered into was with the Yakutat Village Corp. to create a small oyster farm. "Now, they have farming expertise to meet the requirements and have access to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Services Program and its benefits," Dick said. "This is one example of the mariculture work under Haa Aani. Other communities we've worked with include Kake, which has reopened the community's fish plant. We helped bring more management expertise and provide market access on a very small scale. We don't go in on a scale that isn't sustainable."

Additional business opportunities Haa Aani is pursuing include an expansion of alternative energy sources such as tidal, wave and wind energy. "In 2008 we began investigating woody biomass and saw an opportunity to take it into the communities on the residential level. Sealaska converted its building to wood-pellet heat a year ago--the first commercial building in the state to be heated by a renewable energy source.

"Since then," he added, "GSA and the U.S. Forest Service have converted their buildings in Ketchikan and the Coast Guard is in the process of converting its building in Sitka. Now, we've shown it can be done-the demand has been created and we've demonstrated that we can provide a consistent supply of wood pellets quickly."

Haa Aani is also working to become a Community Development Financial Institution through the U.S. Department of the Treasury, giving them even more access to capital, technical assistance and expertise.

As for success? Dick said that comes when the community no longer needs Haa Aani's help.

REGIONAL ECONOMIC FOCUS

Farther north, NANA Regional Corp. works with its tribes, regional and nonprofit...